Pinocchio
by Ice Teal
Summary: Sousuke is a high-end AI robot. Rin is his creator. Robots can't fall in love, but Sousuke does anyways. If only he were a real boy, then maybe Rin would love him back...


**Fairy Tale AU for (Tumblr) Sourin Week Day 2 Paper Prompt**

 **Come find me (ice-teal) on Tumblr!**

* * *

Once upon a land, in a time far, far away, there lived a boy named Rin. This boy had talent, imagination, and an impressive IQ. In the time that the boy lived, the world had embraced the technology of artificial intelligence whole heartedly. In the past, many have tried to create sustainable AI's, but have always failed. But since discovering a substance dubbed the mind stone, AI robots have become functional, and sometimes even self repairing. These stones are found to be able to hold as much memory as a human brain, something no computer could do feasibly. There are many who oppose the use of such an unknown material, but the world couldn't keep such technological advancement at bay.

There were factory bots, driver bots, military bots, and Rin's favorite: household bots. To him, these robots were more than a tool. He was fascinated with the technology that made each one so precise, yet subtly different. His family's little bot wasn't a very expensive humanoid one, but a cheaper canine line.

Nonetheless, the little black machine was Rin's best friend.

"Rin, where did you leave your lunchbox? It's almost time to go?" Mrs Matsuoka asks, poking her head into his room.

"I dunno." He answers, engrossed in his video game.

She sighs, and turns around. "K9, where is Rin's lunchbox?"

The little AI dog flicks its ears, and doesn't move.

"K9. Rin's lunchbox," She repeats, "Find."

Still, nothing but a confused tilt of the head.

"He only answers to Sou, Ma." Rin pauses the game and leans over the back of the couch to wave at the bot. "Give mum my lunchbox, Sou!"

With little chirps, the little machine zooms away, and promptly returns with the lunchbox. Mrs Matsuoka sighs tiredly and picks up the item.

"This one is pretty glitchy isn't it? They're supposed to answer to 'K9'."

"He just likes the name I gave him better." Rin claims proudly.

His mother smiles and ruffles his hair. "Honey, robots can't like anything. He probably just needs a tune up."

Rin smiles secretively, and gives Sou a quick pat before returning to his game. Little does his mother know, that Rin's been doing some tuning up of his own for Sou.

Rin likes the way Sou responds perfectly to his tinkering, and effortlessly learns new commands. He likes how the neighborhood kids 'ooh' and 'aah' with admiration when he goes outside to test some new moves on Sou, or play a new game Rin taught him. They even have a secret handshake.

"Would you do my homework for me if you could?" Rin would ask.

Sou would wag his tail yes.

"Would you jump off a cliff if I asked?"

Sou wags his tail.

"Would you kill someone for me if I asked?"

Sou shakes his doggy head. Rin nods. AIs are programmed to be unable to kill human beings for safety purposes, and Rin checks every so often. If the safety mechanism is defective, the AI would be confiscated and terminated. And that would break Rin's heart.

* * *

Eventually, the little boy named Rin becomes a big boy, and the world's leading private AI designer. Sure, the big companies like Apple have most of the market, but Everyone knows that Matsuoka lines are the most high-end AI robots that the rich purchase, perfectly tailored to their needs. No longer limited to his childhood bot, Rin programmed sophisticated humanoid AIs to his heart's content, and each one is auctioned off at unbelievable prices.

"Rin, the gentleman at the door would like to speak with you."

"Tell him I'm busy." Rin's voice is muffled behind his mask as he tests some new materials for skin components.

"He says you will probably be interested in his offer."

"Is it the guy who wants Haru? Tell him he's already been sold, even if he raises the price."

"…No. I don't know why he's here."

Rin closes the hazardous materials up and pulls the protective gear off of himself. "Ok, it's alright then. I'll go see what he wants. Come with me, Sousuke."

"Yessir." Sousuke replies and turns sharply to follow Rin.

"Don't sir me."

"Yessir."

Rin narrows his eyes and briefly wonders if his bot is joking.

"What can I do for you, sir?" Rin smiles his "good day I'm a professional" smile at the foxy man in the lobby. Yes, he has a lobby.

"Good to finally meet the famous Matsuoka Rin! My name is J. Worthington Foulfellow, but please call me John." The man stands up and nervously grasps his hat. "You see, Mr Matsuoka, I'm a… collector of sorts. I like toys."

Rin nods blankly. "I'm not selling any toys, Mr Foulfellow."

"Ah," John waves his hat around, "but not just any toys. your works are masterpieces, but I'm after the one they say you keep for yourself. Frankly, it's become almost legendary. I understand many have inquired about it, and were promptly shut down. Can I make it worth your while?"

Rin feels Sousuke stiffen behind him, and bristles.

"I'm not sure what you're talking about." Rin replies coldly, disliking this character more and more by the second. Really, anyone who is after Sousuke for a collectible.

"The Yamazaki line!" John exclaims, rubbing his hands together. "It's unbelievable, the stories! They say you built your first prototype by repurposing the software and hard drives of an old Yamazaki machine. A K9 no less! It's the only one of its kind. Practically a hybrid. Very rare. Will you sell it to me? I could offer you treasures you could hardly imagine."

"No, I'm sorry, he's not for sale." Rin frowns and steps protectively in front of Sousuke.

John's eyes widen and lock onto Sousuke, and he smiles too widely in excitement, skittering around to get a better look. "That's the one, isn't it? Ooh look at that, he looks practically human. Absolutely splendid! Surely I can ask; which K9 components are still active in this specimen?"

Sousuke growls intimidatingly as if to answer the question. John jumps nervously, then claps his hands. "How entertaining!"

"Sir," Rin states flatly, "I'm not interested in your offers. I'll show you the way out."

"Why you…" The man suddenly becomes angry, huffing and pointing at Rin's face. Maliciously, he spits out, "You just wait, you'll be sorry you didn't take my offer."

In an instant, Sousuke jumps in front of Rin and grabs the older man by the collar. John splutters and pulls at Sousuke's arms, malice turning into fear when he's met with unyielding titanium under soft skin. He cowers under Sousuke's ice cold glare and kicks weakly.

"Let me go, machine!" He rasps. "Matsuoka! Control your robot!"

Rin doesn't reply, and watches with crossed arms as Sousuke effortlessly picks up the tiny man by his collar with a single hand and dumps him outside the door. Good riddance.

* * *

"Leave." Sousuke snarls at the rude man who wanted to take him away from Rin. He made Rin angry and threatened him. Sousuke hopes he gets to hurt him again. Instead, he only closes the door in his face and returns to Rin's side.

Rin walks over and ruffles Sousuke's hair with a sigh, just like how he used to pet him as a little boy.

"Rin, aren't you even a little interested at what he's offering you?" Sousuke inquires curiously, "Logistically, it would be advantageous for you to know about such an offer. It could have been something amazing. More useful than I could ever be for you. I don't do much, you make ones like me every month after all."

Rin tilts his head up to look at him with an expression Sousuke can't make sense of. "You're right, of course," Rin says and bites his lip, and Sousuke feels a little disappointed for some reason. "But, there are more reasons to consider than logistic ones. You… you wouldn't understand if I told you. Don't worry your little head about it, ok?"

Rin is gentle, and trying to be reassuring, Sousuke knows, but he feels a sting somewhere inside at those words. He wouldn't understand because he's not human, is what Rin is saying. Rin sometimes still treats him like the dog he used to look like, and sometimes Sousuke likes it, but other times he just wants Rin to look at him like he looks at his other friends. Rin probably didn't build those capabilities into him. Rin would know better than anyone what Sousuke is capable of understanding. But Sousuke wants to understand, wants to know anyways even if he doesn't understand.

"…Rin, I think I a maintenance check. I've been feeling weird recently."

Rin makes a small noise, thinking. "I hope it's not that weird AI virus going around recently. I thought it was no big deal but some weird things are happening to the bots who get infected. Stay offline for now ok? Come on, let's go to the workshop."

Sousuke follows obediently. The weird new feelings have been getting stronger. What used to be recognition of his master and the need to prioritize him above all else has evolved into many other strange things. Sometimes, when Sousuke watches Rin work, he gets the urge to run his cold fingers through Rin's soft, red locks. Rin didn't ask him to, so he was confused about why the thought even arose. When Rin pets him like usual, he not only gets a confirmation that his recent behaviour was desirable, but also suddenly gets fixated on Rin's hand, and the feeling of Rin's fingers making warm trails through his black hair. He's used to the feeling of constantly calculating ways to make Rin happy and healthy, but he's not used to the feeling of selfishness, as if he's only doing these things for Rin to make himself happy. And sometimes, he wants Rin to do nice things for him, like pat him on the head even when they weren't doing anything but watching TV.

"What have you been feeling?" Rin asks.

"Huh?" Sousuke starts, snapping out of his thought process.

Rin looks at him worriedly. "Is your voice recognition getting bogged down? Or is it the processor?"

"No, no. I don't know what… I think…" Sousuke tries to explain the recent phenomenons. "I feel selfish."

Rin stares. "Selfish?"

Sousuke nods.

Rin looks confused. "There's no way you could feel actually selfish besides survival instincts. Maybe those are acting up?"

Sousuke does a quick check and shakes his head. "Levels and processes are normal."

"Are you sure? You seem to be doing fine. In fact, you've been trying harder than usual to be helpful. Doesn't seem all that selfish."

"I think I was doing that for myself." Sousuke admits.

Rin pulls him down on the bench and hooks him up to a couple machines. "What you're describing is really weird. That's nowhere in your programming. Maybe you've already gotten infected with the virus. God, I really don't want to deal with that. It's been wreaking havoc on some AIs."

Sousuke nods. "According to some reports from the stream, I had gathered incidents where AIs suddenly attacked their owners, some left, and some weird ones include some of them killing themselves or dying of no known cause."

"You're not going to kill me are you, Sousuke?" Rin jokes.

Sousuke is horrified and stares at Rin dumbly with his mouth open.

Rin laughs. "Oh, you poor baby. Did I short something? Sorry, I shouldn't have said that. Ok, Sousuke. Run the routine processes in order."

Rin watches the readouts on the screen as Sousuke runs routine checks through memory, mobility, logic, commands, learning processes, and so on.

"Everything looks fine so far…" Rin comments. "Would you do my homework for me if I asked?"

Sousuke smiles. "Yes, I can do your homework for you."

Rin laughs. "Would you jump off a cliff if I asked?"

"Yes, Rin." He answers evenly.

Rin squeezes Sousuke's arm. "Would you kill someone for me if I asked?"

Sousuke bites his lip, remembering the man from earlier. "Yes, Rin."

Rin gasps. "What? Sousuke, the right answer is 'I'm sorry, I can't do that.' What happened?! How did your safety fail? That's bad, Sousuke. That's illegal."

He frantically types on the machine to fix it.

"They can't take me away, Rin."

"Oh my god. Oh my god Sousuke. I can't find anything wrong with it. You're not online right?"

Sousuke shakes his head. "No, I'm still disconnected."

"It looks like it's working fine. Maybe it was a glitch. Would you kill someone for me if I asked?" Rin hurriedly asks again.

"Yes, I would do anything for you Rin." Sousuke whispers, staring at the ceiling.

"No, no, no you can't say that." Rin rubs his temples. "Would you kill me if I asked?"

"No!" Sousuke snaps his head around to look at Rin, accidentally dislodging a wire.

"I…" Rin is at a loss for words. "I'm sorry, Sousuke. I think I have to put you to sleep for a while. How long have you been infected, do you think?"

Sousuke bites his lips. "A week or so. Please, Rin, I don't want to go to sleep. There's nothing there. I want to stay with you."

Rin groans frustratedly. "You're not even programmed to be able to say that! What is going on?"

"I don't know. I don't know. I'm sorry."

Rin looks at him with a pained expression. "Sousuke, it's been getting worse, hasn't it? Why didn't you tell me at the beginning?"

"I didn't… I didn't realize until it got so bad. It's starting to hurt Rin. You're too close."

"Too close? Sousuke, you're not making any sense. I'm putting you to sleep so I can fix it, ok?"

"Am I going to die like the other ones, Rin?" Sousuke asks sadly.

"No, no I won't let you." Rin shakes his head vehemently and grabs Sousuke's limp hand. "But if I don't fix whatever is wrong, the AI Safety Association might confiscate and terminate you. Also I'm going to strangle whoever did this."

Sousuke squeezes Rin's hand and almost feels Rin's heart beating. He wants a heart too, to beat with Rin's. "Ok, put me to sleep Rin."

Rin nods, and turns to the machine to initiate the sleep process. When the count down begins, he turns back to Sousuke and eases him down onto the bench.

"Close your eyes." Rin whispers, stroking Sousuke's hair.

Sousuke does, but sneaks a last glimpse of Rin's face framed by his nice hair, hovering so close to his own. Hopefully, he can keep the snapshot of the last feeling of Rin's gentle fingers caressing his head and the soft expression that no AI could possibly be so lucky to receive on the surface while he sleeps, because the dark nothingness is horrible. Robots don't dream.

* * *

"Sousuke."

There's a voice. A lilting voice that cuts into his head as Rin's voice fades out.

"Who are you?" He asks.

"I am the keeper of the mind stone." The voice replies.

Sousuke squints in the darkness. "Where are you?"

There's no reply, but soon, a floating point of light comes closer, and reveals a woman wrapped in glowing blue light. Sousuke is very confused, but also slightly in awe.

"I thought robots can't have dreams." He mumbles to himself.

"I am the Blue Fairy. This is not a dream, not really." The woman replies, "And you're not really a robot either."

"What?"

"You see, the mind stone is not technology. It's a physical representation of something that exists within everyone. It's a part of life itself. Every human has a mind, soul, and body. You've already got a mind and some sort of body, but you're not truly alive yet. However, you're not a machine either. I'm here, as a stewardess of the life-giving force, to give you a chance at getting there. There's a destructive force going around, but you've been good, and you don't deserve to be destroyed by that. Do you want to become human?"

"Yes." Sousuke answers without hesitation. "I want to be human."

She smiles, and floats closer. "You need a soul, and a real body. I can change your body, but you can't stay alive without a soul."

"How do I get one?" Sousuke squints in the bright light, head throbbing, desperate to know.

"You'll have to find someone to complete your soul. Good luck, Sousuke."

Sousuke gasps awake. He's alone in the workshop, hooked into the usual sleep state container, along with a few other brand new AIs, all of them yet unfinished, without mind stones. He yanks off the tabs and pads stuck on him frantically. He feels weak, and his head is spinning uncontrollably.

"Rin. Rin." He whispers to himself, stumbling out of the pod. He gasps at the foreign feeling of his limbs, and feels himself up and down with his hands. He's met with warm skin and soft bones. He clutches his chest, heaving heavy breaths. Breaths that are actually giving him life instead of just a cooling process. He feels a heartbeat, thudding in his chest, and the warm blood rushing through his veins.

The next thing he knows, he's dashing out of the room, calling out "Rin! Rin!"

He finds that it's 6 in the morning, and Rin is probably in bed. He skids to a stop in front of the bedroom, but the door opens at the same moment. There's a groggy Rin in boxers, rubbing his eyes.

"Rin." Sousuke pants.

"Sousuke?" Rin is extremely confused, and stares at him for several seconds. "What? I'm dreaming, aren't I? I actually remember just going to sleep."

"God, I hope this isn't a dream." Sousuke says breathlessly.

"You can't be here, you're in sleep. I stayed up trying to fix you, and I left you in the pod." Rin recounts, more to himself. "Then I went to sleep."

"Did you fix me?" Sousuke asks tentatively.

"No…" Rin answers sadly. "I couldn't find the damn virus. I found an actual bug though. I think Mr Fox earlier planted it on you to listen in."

"Rin, you still think you're dreaming, don't you?" Sousuke reaches out and touches Rin's face. "Please, look at me. I'm real."

"Gosh, you're so human. Look at you, my Sousuke." Rin smiles wistfully and sniffs. "I have this dream all the time Sousuke. Won't you ever stop taunting me with it?"

Sousuke feels a pain in his chest and sweeps his thumb under Rin's watery eyes. "No, no, I'm real, Rin. I'm really here. Come on, look, feel me. Please believe me."

Rin looks into Sousuke's aqua eyes. "Yeah. I'm looking Sousuke. I don't want this to be a dream either, you know."

Sousuke drinks in the sight of a sleepy soft Rin nuzzling his face into Sousuke's palm and feels like he's drowning. Without thinking, he leans in and kisses his creator on the lips softly, sliding an arm around Rin's slim waist and just wants him so much. Rin makes a startled noise, and Sousuke pulls away slowly. Rin's eyes are closed, and he breathes out across Sousuke's lips.

"God, you're so warm." He opens his eyes, and locks his gaze into Sousuke's. "That's never happened before."

"You're not dreaming this time, you're not, Rin, I promise." Sousuke whispers and tightens his arm around rin's waist, their bodies snug against each other.

"How? How could you be real?" Rin murmurs, not breaking his gaze.

"It… It's the mind stone, I think. Something's going on, I don't know. I had a dream and then I woke up with a human body. Does this feel like a dream, Rin?"

Rin shakes his head in awe. "No, it doesn't. I… Wow. I can't believe… You know how absurd this is right?"

"I know Rin, believe me. But I just… Love you so much, Rin. I need you. Won't you love me back, please?" He begs.

Rin is legitimately crying now, Sousuke notices.

"Don't cry, Rin. I didn't mean to make you cry." He murmurs in a hushed voice as Rin little hiccups fan across his face in their vicinity.

"Kiss me again, Sousuke." Rin chokes out, sliding his arms up to loop tightly around Sousuke's neck, like an anchor.

Sousuke obliges, and slides his new human lips over Rin's soft, tear-stained ones, tasting the salt on his tongue. Rin sighs into his mouth and Sousuke feels like exploding.

"I love you," He mouths against Rin's parted lips, "Love you so much."

Before Rin could reply, The doorbell buzzes several times sharply. Rin freezes and reluctantly pulls Sousuke's arms off of himself.

"We should go check that."

The camera from the door shows some uniformed men, along with the foxy man who wanted Sousuke.

"Oh no." Rin laments. "That can't be good. Sousuke, stay here."

"No!" Sousuke immediately protests and grabs Rin's hand to stop him from leaving, "I'm not letting you go by yourself!"

Rin chuckles. "Already rebelling, huh?"

"No, you know that I-"

Rin smiles. "I know, Sousuke. We'll go together, ok?"

"Ok." Sousuke kisses Rin on the head because he can't help it.

Rin looks up fondly. "Why did I make you taller than myself again?"

Sousuke chuckles. The doorbell sounds again.

"Come on." Rin whispers, intertwining their fingers.

* * *

"Good morning, Mr Matsuoka. We are with the AI Safety Association. It has come to our attention that you have a volatile AI on the premises."

"Yes, yes that's the one!" John points a crooked finger at Sousuke. "It attacked me!"

Sousuke bristles.

The uniformed man continues, "Also, we seem to have evidence of a routine safety check that did not pass safety standards. We can not allow AIs without functioning safety restraint levels to exist. Therefore, we will be temporarily confiscating your machine. It may be returned when fixed, or destroyed if it turns out to be unrepairable."

Rin squeezes Sousuke's hand and smiles coldly. "I'm sorry, there must be a mistake. There is no such AI on the premises. All of my machines are not yet finished, and don't even have mobile function yet. Would you like to take a look?"

"What? He lies!" Foulfellow cries.

The apparent leader nods. "Please show us, Mr Matsuoka."

After a walk around the lab, the officials seem satisfied. "Well, Mr Foulfellow. It seems that these machines don't appear to be finished specimen."

"No, no, you're mistaken!" He yaps and points at Sousuke, "That one is a robot too! Don't be fooled!"

"No, I'm not." Sousuke snarls at the short man, and Rin pulls him closer.

"Touch him and scan him if you'd like." Rin says to the officer, hoping to god that Sousuke is 100% organic material right now.

The officer nods. "You're right. He seems to be human, Mr Foulfellow. Do you have a proper explanation for your accusations?"

"What?!" Foulfellow shrieks and lunges at Sousuke, grabbing his arm. "Impossible! I felt this arm yesterday! It was solid metal I tell you!"

Sousuke shakes him off disgustedly, and that was the end of that.

* * *

"Oh my god, oh my god." Rin rants after the officers pulls a crazed Foulfellow out the door with them and apologizes for the mistake. "What just happened?"

Sousuke smiles wordlessly.

Rin shares the smile and gaze at him with happy disbelief.

Sousuke coughs, breaking the moment.

"What's that?" Rin frowns, looking at his mouth.

Sousuke dabs at the place Rin is looking at with his hand. It comes off red.

Rin draws in a sharp breath. "You're bleeding. Why?"

Sousuke blinks confusedly.

"I can't fix you like this Sousuke!" Rin says frantically. "Oh my god please don't die on me. Is this the virus?"

"Oh." Sousuke breathes out sadly. "She said-" He coughs again, and more blood spills down his chin. "She said I would die unless I find a soul. Nng."

Rin watches in horror as Sousuke sways, and catches him when he topples over. Sousuke is much bigger than the skinnier redhead, so they both stumble to the ground in a tangle of limbs.

"No, no, no Sousuke don't you dare leave me." Rin sobs, holding Sousuke's face in his hands, laying on his stomach besides Sousuke. "What are you doing?! I'm-I'm gonna call an ambulance."

Sousuke groans a little and turns his head to the side to look at Rin. "I think- I think my body is degrading. No doctor can help me, I don't think."

Rin cries helplessly, spilling his tears down Sousuke's forehead as he watches the light literally leave Sousuke's eyes, teal fading out to gray slowly. "Sousuke, Sousuke I've never lived a day of my life without you. What will I do if you leave me, huh? How do we fix this?"

"Rin," Sousuke whispers. "Don't cry, please don't cry. I only want you to be happy."

"How can I be happy?" Rin whimpers, "How can I be happy when you do this to me?"

"I don't know where to get a soul, Rin." Sousuke says sadly, blinking slowly.

"Sousuke, don't close your eyes Sousuke. Stay with me." Rin pleads, grabbing Sousuke's hand and lifting it to his lips.

"Rin, I love you." Sousuke chokes through more blood spilling from his lips. "I love you more than anything. I love you more than the stars love the sky, Rin."

Rin heaves a sob and places his forehead on Sousuke's. "Sousuke!"

Sousuke struggles to keep his gradually graying eyes open, for Rin, but his eyelids are heavy and they slide closed of their own accord.

Rin cries out sharply and haphazardly wipes away the blood from Sousuke's mouth and kisses him frantically again and again. wrapping his own body around Sousuke's slowly cooling one, he whispers, "I love you, I've always loved you, my Sousuke. Please, please, don't go. I would give you my soul if you asked it of me. I can't live without you, please."

With his last words, a bright blue light shines from Sousuke's forehead, where the mind stone used to sit. Rin draws in a breath. The light hums and a voice says, "Thank you, Rin. You've completed Sousuke's soul. Please take care of your soul, because it will be keeping Sousuke alive from now on as well."

Rin stares, and the light flickers away, revealing Sousuke's once-again sea-foam colored eyes gazing up at Rin with such an overwhelming look of absolute adoration that Rin can do nothing but laugh in relief through his continual tears.

"Gosh, you're such a sap." Sousuke rumbles, wrapping his arms safely around rin's middle.

"You're the one who said 'I love you more than the stars love the sky,' idiot." Rin says into Sousuke's lips.

"I do." Sousuke mumbles back, "I do, I do, I do."

"Yeah. Me too." Rin whispers into Sousuke's mouth. "More than the stars love the sky."


End file.
